


A Lonely Specter's Melody

by Inkryptid



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, And it's all Klaus's fault, Ben Hargreeves Whump, Ben Hargreeves is Alive, Future BAMF Klaus Hargreeves, Gen, Good Brother Ben Hargreeves, Good Brother Klaus Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves Fucking Dies, Klaus Hargreeves Whump, Roleswap, Sorry I lose my muse easily, The Beginning Is Very Long But Stuff Will Pick Up Eventually', Updates Sporadically, shit gets fucked, so much angst holy shit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-11-10
Packaged: 2020-03-30 21:14:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19035712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkryptid/pseuds/Inkryptid
Summary: Klaus Hargreeves dies.There isn't any resuscitation or heavenly miracles; no, he destroyed his body too thoroughly for any of that. He was dead, for good.Now, he has to deal with a pissed off God, a boring eternity, and having to watch his family grow up both bigger and further apart as a ghost. He's fine with this, however, except for the weird happenstance that lead to his death and the survival of his brother, Ben Hargreeves. In the meantime though, he does what he does best for the next several years of his afterlife to pass the time: get in other people's business. He just now has the added, admittedly not-so-cool ability of not being seen.Edit (03/14/20): This story is getting revamped!





	1. There's Banging on The Wall

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!! This is my first fanfic in a long time, and hoo boy it’s gonna be a doozy! I’ve had this idea for over a month and a half now, and I’ve been working on it on and off since then! 
> 
> I read very few fics where Klaus's semi-immortality has been a central focus, but I've read even fewer fics that theorize where the line is drawn. I know people like the idea of Klaus's powers allowing him to be immortal, and the angst potential behind it, but I personally wanted to explore where Klaus's powers end and begin, starting...here! Some of my fave fics have been Klaus roleswaps too, but I haven't seen one with him and Ben, and, to be honest, that's what triggered this thought process and inspired this fic!
> 
> I really hope y'all like this first chapter! It's very long, but admittedly this story is gonna be a huge one!! Enjoy!
> 
> The title for this chapter has been inspired by:  
> "So You Wanna Be A Superhero", by Carissa's Wierd. I highly suggest listening to them, and to the song!

 

 

Klaus was sneaking out.

 

He tried his best to remain silent as he meandered down the hall, so as to not wake up his slumbering siblings. It proved to be not so easy, as his hurried footsteps caused old wood to creak under his weight. 

 

Klaus cursed quietly to himself each time, but somewhere along the line he had stopped caring about the amount of noise he was creating. He was impatient, and needed out of the mansion now. 

 

He had gone too long without a fix.

 

He could feel it, that internal itch that cascaded over his body like an electrical stream. It caused his fingers to twitch when he wasn't paying attention, and it made him irritable. He craved,  _ needed _ , the fleeting euphoria and serenity that only narcotics have been able to give him in his eighteen years of life. 

 

Klaus hasn’t been able to sneak out of the house in over two days. He was caught when he returned last time in his daring return to his room, high as all hell. In retrospect, that was  _ probably _ how he got caught in the first place.

 

Initially, nobody had made an effort to interrogate him. They were all used to it by this point, seeing no need to waste the time and energy into stating "concerns" that would be inevitably tossed to the side. Concerns meaning that they would show or detail their disappointment to Klaus again, and tossed to the side meaning that he continued taking drugs.

 

However, after that night, when Klaus came back home from a mission, he had absconded to his room for a well needed rest for aching bones - he might be a lookout, but running around and informing all of his teammates whilst dodging bullets was tiresome - only to find out later, in another attempt to sneak out, that his room was locked from the outside, window included. 

 

He was being forcibly kept in, being made sober unwillingly, and Klaus had hated every second of it. He knew it was Reginald, or Reginald making Grace or Pogo do it, and honestly Klaus doesn't understand why they were still trying with him anymore.

 

Obviously, Reginald has given up considerably, seeing as how Klaus got away that first night with only some harsh words that he was used to hearing. However, punishment was still dealt out, and apparently being on lockdown was what the old bastard had in mind. 

 

Yes, he was giving up on simpler methods, but forcing Klaus sober was something Reginald would always aim for while the teen lived under his roof. Klaus just cannot grasp the thought process as to why anymore.

 

Although, while Klaus is indeed a disappointment, and a coward at that, nobody would deny that he was crafty in his own little ways when he set his mind on something. It was how Klaus had managed to get his hand on drugs for the past five years, since he started actively seeking them out.

 

It was originally just marijuana and alcohol, the usual gateways to addiction people would warn you about. Klaus believes said people are bullshitters. He only started doing harder drugs by choice, and not by any "growing immunity" or whatever!

Yeah, marijuana didn't give him the same chill high as it once had, and ghosts found it easier to break through the haze because of it, but Klaus still made his choice and he will stand by it!

 

So, that night, Klaus was able to escape his room, after having snagged a bobby pin from a hostage during one of their missions earlier that day. To the others, it was just Klaus being himself and chatting up strangers, and thus they didn't bother to pay attention, too focused on dealing with the situation at hand. He had pocketed the pin, and, through trial and error and losing faith with breaking out through the window quietly, had unlocked his bedroom door and managed to escape.

 

He was now heading towards one of the empty bedrooms that was closer to the fire escape, practically hearing the drugs calling out to him.

Or, he would hear them, if the ghosts he seen around every corner weren't muttering or calling out his name. 

 

A pleasant reminder as to why he started drugs in the first place. It was never quiet.

 

Klaus approached the door to the room, and when he got close enough he gently started to twist the knob, his earlier haste temporarily forgotten. The groan of the wood sliding open flittered into the cold silence of the house, and he took a step forward.

 

A second later, Klaus heard footsteps coming up behind him.

 

In a sudden panic, the teen jumped into the room the rest of the way and closed the door as quickly as he could. 

 

Klaus's heart thumped with the sudden spike of adrenaline. 

Nobody else was supposed to be up this late, not even dad, or on this side of the wing!

Everybody was asleep by one, and Reginald would exit his office way before then. This side of the house was never used, seeing as how the children it was made for were never obtained, so it was quite  _ peculiar _ to say the least when someone was walking through it. Well, except for Klaus, but he’s him, and nobody else has tried to sneak out in a while, as far as he knows. Not even Diego, who was the second most likely to rebel due to his sheer hatred for Reginald, number one, and the entire estate of the Hargreeves mansion itself.

 

So, who exactly tailed him, Klaus didn’t know.

 

He prays that it’s not Grace, Pogo, or dad.

 

With a shuddering inhale, the tall boy put his left arm against the door as he placed his ear against the dark wood, listening intently to whoever it was wandering about outside.

 

It was silent.

 

Klaus couldn't hear anything.

 

The person must have gone back to bed. With that thought, Klaus let out an audible breath of relief.

 

Suddenly, however, after he broke the silence, a voice spoke up with tired assurance,"I know you're in there, Klaus."

 

Klaus jumped back at the noise. Slightly.

 

He let out a small groan of annoyance when he recognized the voice immediately after. 

 

There wasn’t any point hiding anymore. He was caught in the act. At least it wasn’t by any person of actual authority.

 

Klaus opened the door, throwing one arm up in mock surrender when he stared into the face of his dear brother, number six, Ben Hargreeves.

 

After a beat of silent judgement, Klaus smiled at the smaller eighteen year old, and responded heartily, as if he wasn't just caught in the act of escaping,"Ohh, Ben! Good morning! I thought you were someone else for a second there!"

 

"Why are you up?" Ben asks without hesitation, as if the answer wasn’t obvious. A frown was fixated on his face despite his brother's attempts at a lighthearted conversation.

 

"Oh, you know," Klaus responds flippantly, waving a hand in the air as if to wipe away Ben's question, "Just got restless, ghosts and shit. Got up to use the bathroom and ended up lost. I could ask you the same thing, though, dear brother! It's, what, one a.m?"

 

The silence lingered.

 

“...Two a.m?” Klaus asks instead.

 

"It’s one-thirty. I was already awake," Ben finally responds, not giving any further detail about the latter half. 

 

Klaus's gaze flutters, and that's when he took notice of his brother's arms wrapped loosely around his abdomen.

He didn't bother to mention it.

 

"But I heard you attempting to sneak away, again. You're not really good at the whole "sneaking" part." He continues, still staring Klaus down.

 

"Heyyy!" Klaus starts to whine half-heartedly, "The floors are really creaky! You try sneaking out every once in awhile, see for yourself just how old this house is!"

 

"I have?" Ben responds, raising an eyebrow with mock questioning at Klaus's inquiry. Klaus noticed the slight uptilt of his brother's frown, and grins back fully as he went on, "We used to sneak out to Griddy's, shithead. I also live here, ya know. Just a casual reminder."

 

Klaus chuckles at Ben's comments. The other boy smirks back.

 

Maybe this could continue and Ben would just go back to bed. Klaus could finish whatever it was he was up to afterwards, and finally get high. Ben wasn't too openly playful like this often, so he’ll take advantage of it.

 

However, Klaus's hopes were immediately dashed when Ben opened his mouth again, after his giggling had passed.

 

"Alright," Ben's voice took on its serious tone, and whatever small bit of playfulness Klaus had managed to stir up was gone, "What are you doing? Please, don't try to avoid the topic."

 

Klaus's grin vanishes when the question hung in the air, burning like acid. 

 

_ God dammit. _ He hoped that this would end up being easy.

 

He grinned again as he stared at his brother. This time, though, the smile was evidently forced and full of mockery.

 

"I told ya, Bennie," Klaus began, lacing his tone with humorous sarcasm, as he usually does when he is met with something he doesn't want to face, "I'm just...taking the scenic route. Couldn’t sleep. Now, I’m talking to you. Just the usual, me being me."

 

Even though Klaus didn't know if Ben heard it, those last three words were tinged with a slight hint of malcontent. Klaus never liked what those words entailed, but he could never deny their truth.

 

Klaus just being Klaus meant that he was being unreasonable, and was about to do or was doing something that was probably stupid. He was unpredictable and reckless, and ran away from the consequences. He knew what he was, and it was a fact that he never hid from.

 

Klaus was a disappointment.

 

He could see it swim through Ben's eyes when his brother immediately read between the lines in his statement. They both knew what Klaus was doing, but Ben simply wanted that acknowledgement, even if he didn't get it outright. 

 

Well, he got it.

 

"Klaus…" He began, but didn't go on. He seemed at a loss for words momentarily, or simply unable to think of the right ones. Once again, the other boy knew that nothing was going to stop Klaus from leaving the house.

 

Klaus doesn't know why he was still here, though. It was starting to make him uncomfortable.

 

"Uh, hey, so," Klaus begins, clapping his hands together, uncaring of the noise it made, "How about we head back to bed? We gotta get our beauty sleep! Don't wanna make dad even more pissy than he usually is."

 

Ben scowled at Klaus's words, not pleased with his attempt to redirect his attention.

 

They both stood in silence.

 

Klaus could physically feel his frustration rise as Ben continued to quietly stare at him judgmentally, the seconds ticking by. He threw his hands down, letting out an annoyed whine.

 

“ _ Jesus _ , fuck,” Klaus groans out, not wanting to waste more time by letting yet another disapproving family member distract him from getting his next dosage of Xanax, “Fine,  _ fine _ , what do you want, Ben?”

 

Ben’s glare falters at Klaus’s frustrated tone. Klaus only felt a small tang of guilt.

 

“Nothing,” He responds, voice unwavering, but his expression clearly gave away all that he felt. Good thing Klaus was an excellent reader of people, especially his siblings. He hasn’t spent literally an entire lifetime learning how to see between the lines, with both the dead and the living, for nothing.

 

That is, he would be good at it, if he wasn’t so determined to remain high and quiet the ghosts that plagued his everyday life.

 

However, he was annoyingly  _ sober _ as of currently, so his brother was like an open book, with each page giving extreme detail about his innermost thoughts. Ben was always one of the easiest of his family to read, seeing as how the late teen was too introverted and smart to do anything irrational, and too self-aware to try and hide anything.

 

Before Klaus could use Ben’s sudden shift of attitude to end the conversation, the boy inhaled slightly and looked back up at the former.

 

“Can I take up that offer of us heading back to bed?” He begins, a tiny, placating smirk taking the place of his frown, “It’s late, and dad  _ could _ get pissy, ya know.”

 

Klaus blinked.

 

Sympathy, tiredness,  _ hope. _ All of those feelings shifted through number six’s face like a soft brook.

 

It almost left Klaus speechless. Almost.

 

It mainly just left him feeling uneasy.

 

“Nahhh.” He responded, shaking his head and pursing his lips. 

 

Ben’s appearance quickly lost all of its positive emotions. Dismay replaced them all, and the teen opened his mouth to state his disapproval. Klaus stops him before he could, speaking up instead.

 

“Listen,” He begins, sighing dramatically and grimacing, “I have no clue why you’re being so - so -  _ persistent, _ fuck, but I’m busy. I have things to do, things that aren’t anywhere close to here, and end up with me flying from cloud zero aaaaall the way up to cloud...I don’t know, fifty? Sixty, if it’s a really good fix.”

His brother was scowling and looked like he wanted to interrupt, but Klaus didn’t give him the chance.

 

“So…” He flips his hand, trying to wave the smaller teen away, “Skat. Skadoodle. Off to bed. You got work tomorrow, and I have some pals to reconnect with. Who, by the way, aren’t very patient.”

 

Ben opens his mouth.

 

“Actually, that’s just me, I’m not very patient.”

 

“Kl-”

 

“My dealer is chill, but I don’t want to leave him hangin’, ya know?”

 

“Klaus-”

 

“Anyways, I gotta go, see you later, dude!”

 

“Wait! Klaus, let me speak-”

 

“No!” Klaus interrupts again. Irritation dripped into his words like venom when his brother stopped him once more from heading towards the empty bedroom’s window. “You should just...let it go, Ben! I don’t want to head to bed, I don’t  _ want _ to hear what you have to say! I have shit to do! Why are you being so fucking determined?! What do you want?!”

 

Ben flinched from the aggressive tone, just slightly, but steeled himself quickly to respond to his brother.

 

“I just care about you, man!” He hushed out, teeth clenched. Unlike Klaus, whose voice was steadily rising during his childish whining, Ben didn’t want to wake up his sleeping family. “I want to help! You’ve been sneaking a lot more these past few months, and, I don’t know, I got worried, okay! I just...I don’t want to see you continue down this road.”

 

Klaus let out an ugly, sarcastic chuckle.

 

Ben looked at him with annoyance when he did. Klaus was probably starting to get on his nerves by seeming so frivolous.

 

“Oh! Wonderful! You care!” He remarks with faux glee.

 

Klaus stepped towards Ben’s side and threw one arm over his shoulder, adding in his typical flair as he went on.

 

“Knowing that, I could stop drugs totally! Gone for good, completely over with! I’ll go clean for the first time since I was, what thirteen? Fourteen? Hell, with that knowledge, I could stop criminals from causing trouble, or hey, even achieve my potential - that would help everyone! ”

 

Ben was looking at him with confusion, wondering where Klaus was taking this. The taller teen paused for dramatic effect as he stared his brother down, casting him an unreadable expression.

 

“I just wonder, you know…” He hesitates once more, choosing his next words carefully as he audibly inhaled.

 

“...Why didn’t it happen from the start?”

 

The quiet that enveloped the two boys was deafening.

 

Ben’s face visually contorted from one full of impatience and annoyance to one full of guilt and pity, suddenly not knowing whether to look at Klaus or at the floor. His lips were pursed, and he looked lost in thought and uncomfortable once again.

 

His silence was exactly what Klaus was going for. It gave him a sense of accomplishment, having been able to do it, but now that it was extending past twenty seconds, thirty seconds, it was drowning him. Just as much as it was probably doing to Ben.

 

Klaus shifted from one leg to another as the minute mark passed.

 

He popped his lips when more time swept by, having had enough of the agonizing atmosphere. He pulled his arm away from Ben, speaking as he did, “Well, thanks for the chat. If you don’t mind, I’ll just…be on my way-”

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

The two words were left hanging in the air as Klaus’s head turned sharply to look back at Ben.

 

Oh. He didn’t expect that.

 

And while he just seen Ben’s ashamed look just a few seconds prior, now that the other boy had apologized Klaus found that it was suddenly agonizing to keep his gaze.

 

God.  _ God _ , this was not how he wanted his night to go.

 

Klaus just wanted to get high and leave. Or, the other way around, jesus, he was all over the place.

 

Instead of letting his brother see his unsettlement, Klaus opted to simply nod.

 

“Yeah. Yeah, you’re fine.” He returns finally, his previous exasperation gone, leaving remorse behind in its wake. “No hard feelings.”

 

Ben nodded back, not saying anything else.

 

The next thing Klaus knew, Ben was turning around and walking down the hallway.

 

_ Finally _ , is what Klaus wanted to think, if he had ever managed to persuade Ben to leave him be. Now, however, seeing him go left a pained feeling in his chest, one that left him standing where he was as he watched his brother head back towards his room.

 

In another world, Klaus would’ve let his brother go, having been given the privacy he needed to fully sneak out and attain his drugs. Despite being a people person, Klaus wasn’t meant for emotional confrontation, with the dead or the living, and preferred to avoid it.

 

In another world, this would’ve kept him and his brother at arm’s length, just as Klaus wanted. Just as how things have been growing up.

 

However, Klaus stood there, dreadfully sober, and thinking about what said brother told him barely ten minutes ago.

 

_ “I just care about you…” _ floated through his thoughts endlessly, and each second it did left him feeling awful and wanting to slink further away, to shut himself off from the world. But it also brought it with the thoughts of sneaking out to Griddy’s when him and his siblings were thirteen. Thoughts of laughing with each other and choking on mouthfuls of donuts tainted his focus. Klaus could remember back when he cracked Ben’s shy exterior, conversing with the boy for what could have been hours about the events of that day, that week, the past few months.

 

Thoughts enwrapped him, showcasing times when he saw Ben looking utterly miserable after having used his power, and just standing there thinking “ _ there’s nothing I can do _ .  _ I don’t have interdimensional death-tentacles. _ ”

 

He remembered seeing the bloodstains Ben left behind on the floorboards when they got in the car and when they were at home. He remembered not thinking twice about it, since he saw blood, gore, and was followed by death every waking second of his life. 

 

That was before he broke his jaw and had to take medicine. Medicine - pills that had drowned out the ghosts for six weeks and showed him peace. Medicine that encouraged him to start testing things out and seeing what else worked to give him back that blissful quiet.

 

He went after drugs and alcohol actively since then, and his plight was ignored by his family, because, to them, he became a failure. Their tolerance grew nonexistent, and Klaus’s selfishness protected him from the scorn they dished out and the self-deprecation that hid underneath his false ego.

 

And now, standing there, his unpredictable thoughts jumping from one to the other, the shame of hypocrisy and guilt taking him by storm, Klaus did something nobody could’ve predicted.

 

He let out a groan before he spoke up again, gaze looking from the ceiling back to Ben as he called out to his brother.

 

 “Wait…”

 

Ben stopped in his tracks, and looked back at Klaus with confused eyes.

 

“I...I’m sorry, too.” He said. His own face changed into one filled with badly restrained regret.

 

The two stood there in complete silence for a few seconds, again, until Ben nodded a second time.

 

“It’s okay,” He responds, arms still clenched around his stomach. Were they held closer than they were earlier?

 

“No, no, that wasn’t okay,” Klaus says, his light-hearted tone coming back as he held his hands up, “I was being a dickweed. A bitch, but not in the good, cool way. I was a total, absolute, utter fuckwad, and you  _ should _ say it!”

 

Ben smiled slightly at the resurgence of Klaus’s carefree attitude and attempts at remedying the situation.

 

“Yeah, you were being kind of a fuckwad.” He agreed.

 

When his smile remained, Klaus couldn’t help but grin in return.

 

“I don’t think I will ever get used to you cussing.” Klaus states as he walks over to Ben, “You were such a baby about it for so long, oh my god! You were so scared of dad finding out.”

 

“Shut up,” Ben retorts, but his grin grew with Klaus’s words.

 

“I remember,” Klaus clapped his hands together again, fingers curling into a hold when he stood in front of Ben, “When we were studying in the library, you hit your toe on the table. And you said “ _ shit _ ” really loud that it even made Luther shut up.”

 

Ben was chuckling as Klaus continued to recount the memory, shaking his head in mock exasperation.

 

“You were freaking out so badly that he would tell on you. “ _ Nooo, please don’t tell daddy or mommy, hrrrk” _ . That was the sound of you throwing up from crying.”

 

“Shut the fuck up, Klaus,” Ben repeats, snickering, “I don’t sound like that, you asshole. I didn’t throw up either, I just choked up.”

 

“Oh, but you still choked up!” Klaus teased.

 

His brother groaned, but his laughter picked back up right after.

 

“What ever happened to that Ben? Sweet, little innocent Ben, afraid of cursing. Afraid of spiders, snakes, worms, his own shadow. Now you’re calling me an asshole and making me feel guilty!” Klaus pretended to hiss in disgust, “Absolutely despicable!”

 

Ben continued to cackle, and Klaus made a small giggle along with him.

 

He didn’t say it, but he already felt better, his heart lighter. The previous feelings of guilt and shame were quickly depleting as he and Ben continued to joke together. Since the beginning of this entire interaction, he was finally enjoying the presence of his adoptive brother.

 

Klaus, surprising himself, realized that he wanted this to continue. He still wanted to head out of the house, but also he was having actual, pleasant brotherly time with a member of his family. He felt like he owed Ben for being a dick earlier, at least something more than an apology. His brother was trying hard to connect with him right now, and Klaus wanted to reciprocate the effort for the first time in a long time.

 

So, why not combine both of his wants, right?

 

“Hey, wanna sneak out with me?” He asks Ben out of nowhere.

 

Ben immediately blinks at the sudden question, and a glare is directed back at Klaus.

 

“I won’t go anywhere where you’ll just buy drugs, Klaus.”

 

Well, shit. That puts a detriment on his former plan.

 

Klaus hesitates before responding back, thinking about what he should do now.

 

“Well, what if-” He begins, but Ben is already interrupting him before he could start explaining his suggestion.

 

“Nope. Whatever you’re gonna say, I won’t let you do it.” He stands up straight, finally moving his arms from his stomach so they could cross. “Either I go with you while you’re sober, the  _ entire _ time, or you and I head back to bed.”

 

Klaus hissed genuinely this time, not deigning Ben a proper response as his brain stormed.

 

Was heading out with his brother more worth it than getting his fix?

 

Oh, absolutely not!

 

Or, well...Klaus desperately needs those pills that his dealer was holding onto for him. If he didn’t get them soon then the ghosts would continue bothering him, and walking around with Ben, not anywhere close to the red light district presumably, would make it troublesome to get them.

 

To Klaus, that sounded like more trouble than it was worth.

 

However…

 

These past fifteen minutes had given him a different perspective on things. More specifically, it has shown him that he hasn’t actually hung out with any of his siblings in a long time, especially Ben.

 

Ben was always closer to Five and Vanya growing up. Klaus was an extrovert, but Ben’s inherent shyness didn’t always compliment his erratic personality, and oftentimes he would only pester the sixth Hargeeves child if no one else was around.

 

Klaus hardly ever got to see a playful side of Ben. That portion of his brother’s nature was always reserved for private, soft moments, and Klaus was anything but either.

 

Although, when he did get to see it, like tonight, it made Klaus realize just how much he didn’t actually know about his sibling.

 

That was enough to make Klaus decide  _ fuck it. _

“Uuugh, fiiine.” Klaus lets out, sighing dramatically, only semi-frustrated. “I promise I won’t lead you down any of my druggie escapades. No back alleys and no dealings of any sort. You’re no fun.”

 

Despite the last accusation, the promise was enough to satisfy Ben, and his smile returned full force.

 

Klaus’s doubts about his decision were almost completely erased when he saw it.  _ Almost. _

 

He’ll get drugs later. Maybe he’ll find a way to slip out when they were returning home. Yeah, that sounds good, he guesses.

 

“Thanks, Klaus. Lemme go get changed real quick, then we’ll head out.”

 

Several minutes later, Ben was walking back down the hall towards Klaus with a black jacket  with the hood noticeably pulled up, a scarf, normal jeans, and proper shoes, his hands stuffed inside the jacket pockets. It was simple, so casual, yet Klaus didn’t expect anything less or anything more. Ben was never one to show off, unlike him.

 

Klaus, on the other hand, was wearing a gray-and-black striped shirt underneath his black cropped jacket. His just as black skinny jeans were ripped on the knees, and, despite the weather, he didn’t wear any socks or shoes. A fluffy black scarf covered his neck, and fingerless gloves covered his hands. His makeup was simple, but his eyeliner was on point, which Klaus was especially proud of. His outfit wasn’t functional for forty degree weather, but Klaus wanted to feel good, especially since he spent the past two days in a gloomy academy uniform.

 

He was never allowed to put on makeup in the household, or else wind up on the other side of Reginald’s wrath. The only thing that did, though, was stop Klaus from wearing it twenty-four-seven. Anytime he noticed the window of opportunity, Klaus took it, whether it was during his time alone on a boring day at noon, or sneaking out of the house at two in the morning.

 

Klaus never understood the reasoning behind gender roles. The only thing they did was restrict his freedom of expression, which was a huge no-no to him.

 

So, unlike Ben, Klaus stood out. And he was more than happy with that fact.

 

With a shared smile, the two brothers headed towards the empty bedroom and opened up the window as carefully as they could. With practiced ease, they clambered over the sill one by one and jumped over to the escape, heading down the rest of the way to the ground.

 

When they both were both on the smooth cement of the side alley, they made their way out of it and onto the illuminated street of the Hargreeves mansion.

 

The icy winds of late September washed over them, making theirs breaths come out in white puffs of smoke.

 

The moon glared overhead, the stars hidden behind the light pollution of the city. The street was empty of any living being or cars, leaving it with a sense of tranquility. 

 

Which was total bullshit, considering this was hell in the eyes of both the Hargeeves’ boys. But, for now at least, they could leave it behind and enjoy the night for what it was. It was freedom and peace, far away from their dysfunctional home life.

 

“Where’re we gonna go?” Ben asks Klaus, looking over at the other teen.

 

“Uh…” Klaus begins, only giving his brother a passing look before looking back down the street. He didn’t think this far. “Hm...how about we head to the park, the one right beside that one building?”

 

“The park?” Ben responds, and shrugs a second later, “Sure, I guess. By building, you mean the Hopewell Church?”

 

“Yeah, the huge ass, rich people place.” Klaus reiterates.

 

Ben huffed at him, but his grin remained. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

 

“Fan- _ tastic _ , come on then.” Klaus then starts in the direction of the park, a slight hop in his step. Ben quickly caught up to him, and they started to walk side by side.

 

During the trip over, they talked. They conversed about most anything, like the funny memories about their family, about how cold it was, about the missions, though Ben grew more quiet during the latter.

 

Klaus understood his reservations, so he didn’t linger on that topic. Instead, he talked about how his last few days have been, which, spoilers, have been utter shit. He talked about how much Reginald was an ass for forcing him sober, though Ben remained pointedly quiet during it. He talked about how he walked into a wall last week, how he pestered Diego and how unfairly angry he got when their brother grew irritated, and about how his dreams were all over the place and freaky, though what else was new in that department.

 

All the while Klaus chattered, Ben listened thoroughly. He never interrupted, and inserted his own words and opinions when he could.

 

He didn’t tell Klaus to be quiet and didn’t ignore him. Ben’s focus was fully on brother, and…

 

Klaus felt really happy, just being able to talk about anything and everything. His hands emoted with his words, and sometimes his whole body would join along, doing twirls, stopping, hunching over dramatically. He went on and on, only giving himself room to breathe when he was finished with a topic of conversation.

 

Not a lot of people just… _ listen _ to him anymore.

 

It was really nice, even if he wouldn’t admit it out loud.

 

When they got to the park, Klaus finally went quiet. He only realize where they were when Ben spoke up with a “here we go,” and nodded towards the open field of grass and trees, which were now colored a mixture of golds and browns in the yellow streetlights.

 

“Oh!” was Klaus’s only response.

 

He didn’t speak up again when they started walking down the pathway.

 

For the first time during the walk, Klaus let the quiet surround him and Ben. A rarity, in of itself.

  
  


The swift Autumn chill stung his nose and the tips of his ears, but Klaus tried to not pay it much mind other than pulling his scarf up a bit higher. He didn’t welcome the small tingle of pain the cold gave him, but he tried not to show it. It gave him an odd sense of uneasiness, thanks to old memories that he would rather repress.

 

Klaus would always rather have warmth. He sought it out whenever he could and needed it most. He took hot baths, and hugged people, and always requested for extra blankets during the winter. While he didn’t know if his powers connected him to the cold, he still didn’t like it due to its secondhand association with them. 

 

The dead were not the best at bringing in warmth. Their presence was called cold spots for a reason.

 

Another breeze caused Klaus to breathe out shakily and clench his arms, trying to rub some warmth into them as he evaded the downward spiral his mind was close to heading into.

 

He and Ben had been walking non-stop for over twenty minutes now, and the movement had helped significantly in combating the cold, Klaus knew. Still, it didn’t stop him from losing his breath.

 

“Can we sit down for a second? I gotta… catch my breath…” Klaus sputtered out between inhales and exhales.

 

“Well, walking and talking can do that to you.” Ben responded, but followed Klaus to a nearby bench anyway. 

 

The two of them looked over their surroundings as Klaus regulated his oxygen, the freezing air clashing with his warm exhales. The white smoke continued to dissipate into the night. The wind continued to dance over them in a slight breeze. The seconds continued to tick slowly by.

 

To be honest, Klaus wasn’t expecting his night to end up like this. When he had managed to unpick his door lock almost an hour prior, he planned to be gone all night, riding out his amazing high. He wanted to make the ghosts go away, forget about his responsibilities, and ignore the loathing he faced from his family on the daily. He expected to fall back into pattern, which he never had a problem with for over five years.

 

He had surprised both Ben and himself with his returned apology. His aim was to make Ben feel guilty, even if it made him an asshole, but the emotions sobriety brought back to him were unexpected, to say the least. Klaus had felt his anger broil due to being held back from his next deal, but that same intensity was then twisted into shame when he watched his brother walk back to his room dejectedly.

  
  


Klaus wasn’t one for emotional confrontation. His empathy, on the other hand, could be devastating when in the right frame of mind.

 Klaus used to act on it, like how he did with all his other gut-wrenching emotions. It used to allow him to be able to talk to his siblings and reassure them, without any awkwardness or regrets for either party. Now though, Klaus could only look away when he heard or seen any signs of distress in any of his brothers and sisters. 

He tries to tell himself that it’s because of Reginald’s marvelous upbringing. Something deeper inside him also yells that that wasn’t the only truth.

 

Klaus does his best to ignore it. He prefers not getting existential or self-aware with his brother right beside him. Whatever truth was eating away at his soul, he wasn’t ready for it yet. He’ll set it aside, and think about it later, ideally after he gets his high. Things were always easier to accept when he was high.

 

Before Klaus realized it, his body was shaking considerably. He was so lost in thought that he hadn’t realized that the generated warmth from the walk had worn away, and now he was fully susceptible to the plight of the early Autumn weather.

The teen tugged at his scarf some more to bring it closer to his numbing face, hoping his breath would be enough to warm it up. His ears were now completely frozen, and Klaus assumed that they would be almost painful to unthaw when they returned to the Academy.

 

Ben looked over to Klaus when he moved, and the second teen gave him a mixed look of concern and  _ I knew this would happen _ .

 

“So, were you planning to sneak out, I’m assuming all night, in practically nothing but a scarf, in near freezing temperature? Or did you have a backup crop jacket in your fake pockets somewhere?”

 

“Shut up.” Klaus huffed, though without any real indignation.

 

Ben chuckled at his brother’s lack of a proper comeback, and sat back once again.

 

It wasn’t until Klaus huddled his legs closer to his atop the bench that the boy spoke up once more.

“You know, we could head back any time, if you get too cold.”

 

Klaus scoffed at his brother’s suggestion. “Oooh, anxious to get back home, are we?”

 

“W-” Ben began, but hesitated before sighing, “No, I’m really not. We don’t have head to back. You’re freezing your ass off though, so…” He resigns to shrugging instead.

 

Klaus hummed in acknowledgement. Despite looking fine as hell, he was really, as Ben so eloquently put it,  _ freezing his  _ actual _ ass off. _ However, Klaus would rather get hypothermia then head back home so early. He spent days, with a capital D, trying to obtain this sense of freedom once again, even though it now didn’t come intact with his original plan of Xanax and possibly methamphetamine (speedballing was dangerous, but god was it such an unusual and new sensation for Klaus, which makes it good in his books). But, unexpectedly, Klaus was fine.

 

Not physically fine - Klaus could feel his fingers twitching near uncontrollably, and the temptation was still an ever present itch - but fine enough mentally, for now. He was still sober, thanks to Ben’s intervention, but Klaus hasn’t been trifled by any ghosts for far longer than any of his time back at home.

Klaus still had plans to meet up with his dealer later. For the time being though, he was going to relax with one of his siblings for the first time in two to three years, and he was going to let Ben enjoy his time with a clearheaded Klaus. If being temporarily sober meant remedying his earlier douchebaggery, then he’ll do it. 

 

The craving was incessant, but Ben has been a good enough distraction, amazingly.

 

The cold wasn’t helping Klaus relax anymore, though.

 

He hummed again as he wracked his brain for any ideas. They weren’t around any open stores, and he had promised Ben to not lead them towards the red light district. He definitely wasn’t going back home, either. So, of  _ course _ , that left only one solution…

 

“Hey, wanna do a lil’ bit of B n’ E?” Klaus asked, sparing a glance towards his brother.

 

The question ended up leaving Ben incredulous, as the teen could only blink at Klaus for a good five seconds. When he had examined Klaus enough to note that the taller boy was actually serious he vehemently started to shake his head.

 

“No. No, absolutely not,” He states rapidly, “We are  _ not _ breaking and entering. Klaus? We are  _ NOT _ breaking and entering.”

 

“Aww, why not?” was Klaus’s only response, pretending to push out his bottom lip in fake sadness.

 

Klaus was only making his brother more confused, as if he couldn’t tell whether ot not Klaus was joking anymore. Which, he most likely couldn’t, Klaus was flip-floppy like that when he was sober. He’ll admit to that.

 

“Because it’s illegal, first of all? And we’re heroes, secondly. What if dad figures out that we broke into someone’s place?”

 

“Oh my  _ god _ , dad wouldn’t find out if we don’t get caught! It’s about being stealthy, and, hey, look at that, we just snuck out of a mansion with first grade surveillance! Besides, we’re adults anyway. Dad can’t do jack shit to us.”

 

“That’s actually my third point.” Ben crosses his arms as he glowers at Klaus, “We’re eighteen, and turning nineteen in a few days. If we get caught, they won’t let us go home with a slap on the wrist. We would actually be convicted.”

 

“Ah, but Bennie dearest, did you forget?” Klaus tilts his head to the side lazily, “The almighty, powerful sir Reginald Hargreeves has made the police his bitch. He just tosses a few thousand dollars at them, and boom, our records are spot clean! He wouldn’t let anything tarnish his dear academy’s reputation.”

 

Ben didn’t respond. Klaus watched his brother closely as the other began to examine the ground and look back at him. He was getting to Ben, making the other actually consider breaking the law, but his doubts were still making him hesitate. That, or he was too uncomfortable to look Klaus in the eye, which was another plausibility.

 

“Okay, listen. We don’t have to do it if you think it’ll be too dangerous. I just think it’ll be a good, fun thing for us to do. Do some brotherly bonding while rebelling against the unfair systems of society! Get the adrenaline going!” Klaus attempts to reassure.

 

“It’s not rebelling against unfair systems, it’s breaking the rules meant to protect the people. Which we should also abide by, by the way.” Ben’s face was skeptical as he spoke.

 

“Come ooooon,“ Klaus whines, leaning in closer to Ben, “Don’t be such a goody two shoes. Don’t you want you stick it to the old man? Dad’s been telling us to be heroes all our  _ lives _ , and he never gave us the choice to be anything but! If it’s not unfair of society, then it’s his fault that we never got the opportunity to try to be criminals! Ugh! Downright putrid!”

 

Ben didn’t laugh at Klaus’s dramatic speech, but he could see a visible smirk growing on his brother’s face.

 

“Oh, how shameful of him for letting us not be stupid enough to land ourselves in jail.” Ben mocks, shaking his head.

 

“Yeah, see! Now you’re getting it!” Klaus encourages, now completely leaning on Ben’s side.

 

“Nope, no I’m not!” Ben retaliates, chuckling even more.

 

“But you arrre!” He teases, smirking widely now too, “Pleeease, Ben? We can bust into any place you want! We won’t worry about having to be caught if you pick it! You’re the smart guy!”

 

Ben rolls his eyes at Klaus’s compliment. “No, Klaus. I’m not gonna devolve into a life of debauchery, for fun or for rebellion.”

 

Klaus continued to pout. He was only half-joking by this point, and now he won’t stop until he got what he wanted. From the look on Ben’s face, the other boy knew it too, and he was quickly relenting.

 

After almost five whole minutes of begging and invading personal space, Ben finally pushed Klaus away, sighing in defeat as his stubbornness subsided.

“Why are you like this? Why do you make me consider stuff like this?” He asks rhetorically, but Klaus smirks back at him.

 

“I’m not doing anything! I’m just giving you a suggestion!”

 

Ben looked at him unamused.

 

“If I do this with you…” He begins again, looking at Klaus sternly, “You need to promise me a few more things.”

 

“Oooh, but I’m already wearing myself thin with just the one. Please, dude, just let go and have some fun!”

 

“A few more rules won’t kill you, Klaus. Promise me these, and we can do whatever it is you want.”

 

Klaus ruminated on Ben’s words for a bit, leaving the two in silence once more. It wasn’t until twenty seconds later that Klaus groaned and put his hands on his eyes, pulling them down in only semi-frustration. “Fiiiine. What are your new demands, dearest, nerdy, killjoy brother o’ mine?”

 

Ben punched Klaus’s shoulder for his words, though it lacked any real resentment.

 

“First off,” He begins when Klaus rubs his hit shoulder, “We aren’t damaging anything. I already don’t like breaking into someplace, but property damage to get there is crossing the line.”

 

“But what if the only way in is through breaking a window? It’s called  _ breaking _ and entering for a reason, dear.”

 

“There are different ways to enter someplace without actually having to break anything. Which, secondly, we must not get caught.”

 

“Well, obviously-”

 

Ben held up a hand to interrupt Klaus. “I mean that we must be careful with leaving any evidence behind. We don’t want to head back only to have dad get a call that our fingerprints were found on a stranger’s open window.”

 

“...Yeah, you kind of have a point there.”

 

“I have a full on point there. Thirdly, nobody must get hurt. Physically or emotionally. We’ll only fight unless we have to, okay?”

 

“Okay, okay. I promise to all of that. Is that all you wanna set down, or can we go ahead and…?”

 

Ben lets one final indignant sigh before nodding his head. “Yeah, let’s get going.”

 

Klaus’s smile was huge as he grabbed his brother’s wrist and tugged him towards where they came in at the park. He couldn’t help but feel the excitement creep into him at the mere fact that they were about to do this. They were about to break the law.

 

They were  _ going _ to break the law, and it made Klaus overjoyed.

 

“So, where do you suggest we start at?” Klaus asks as they walked hurriedly, turning his head to glance back at his brother.

 

From what he could see, Ben’s face was a mixture of anxiety, unsureness, and, bursting through the previous two in brief flashes, anticipation. When the teen heard Klaus’s question, he blinked before shrugging and speaking up. “I’m not sure. I’m not exactly best at choosing a place to commit crimes at.”

 

Klaus snorted at his brother, but turned away to search his surroundings and consider their options.

 

There weren’t a lot of places in this area, to be quite honest. There were only two personal homes and a side store on differing ends of the park, and right on the other side of the street was the humongous church that was nearly as tall and as wide as the Hargreeves mansion. It didn’t take up the whole street like the academy did, but it was glaringly obvious that it had a lot of money backed into it during its development. It was why Klaus considered it to be a place for the wealthy, despite it being open to everyone.

 

It was nearly nine stories high, if Klaus had to guess. It had a pretty flat rooftop, aside from its front spire, and it had tons of windows donning its walls. It was made of orangish-red brick, and Klaus knew that behind it was a simple playground for the child attendees. Its graveyard was a good distance away from it, which Klaus knew all too well. After all, this was the exact church that withheld that damn mausoleum within its sanctum that Reggie was so attached to.

 

Klaus almost wanted to run away from it. He was sober, and a holy place like this usually entailed ghosts. Or, did it negate ghosts? Klaus wasn’t sure. He just knew that he didn’t like the place, but not enough to avoid it in its entirety.

 

It was then that Ben spoke up again, catching Klaus off guard.

 

“Actually, how about the church?” He suggests, looking between it and Klaus.

 

The taller teen tenses as he tries to force a nonchalant expression to come to his face. He stared at the building in question, thoughts racing almost a mile a minute until he answered Ben with another question.

 

“Oh, uh...how come?”

 

Klaus doesn’t see his brother’s face, but he felt the looks the other boy was giving him. He hoped that he wasn’t giving anything away with how he felt, but it was proving to be harder than he thought.

 

“I thought that it would be easier to get into. It’s late, so no one’s there. It most likely has a way up to the roof in the back, so we don’t actually have to unlock a window or door. Much like the fire escape back at home.” He begins, shrugging despite one wrist being clenched firmly by Klaus’s right hand.

 

“Ah.” Was Klaus’s only response, not giving Ben any other sign of acknowledgement.

 

Klaus knew that he didn’t have to sneak into there. Ben wouldn’t force him, and they would look at the some of the other places in the area. However, he stood perfectly still. 

 

Klaus never thought about purposefully heading into the place that was a cause of a lot of his childhood trauma. Despite the graveyard not being near the church, the connection between the two was enough to make Klaus want to run away. But something was holding him back, keeping him beside his sibling right across from the building. It wasn’t until Klaus dug in deeper that he figured out what it was:  _ intrigued rebellion. _

 

Klaus was always hard to handle, he knew that much. He didn’t take kindly to any orders or regulations, but especially not ones from people that he did not like. Reginald was the biggest example, aside from dearest number one. Klaus loathed his dad more for his complete lack of any positive human emotion, while he simply didn’t like how Luther was something akin to a devout follower to the old guy. Anytime either of them tried to make him do something, especially when he was sober like this, he would purposefully make it difficult for both of them.

 

Klaus was a rebel to authority by heart. It was why breaking the law interested him right now, and why he didn’t care about the consequences. He did want he wanted to, at his own pace, in his own way. It did make him a disappointment in the eyes of others, alongside his many other faults, but Klaus tried his best to drown them out.

 

And now, staring at the very thing that gave dad permission to leave his son in the cemetery they funded, Klaus felt an innate urge to desecrate it. He wanted to break its windows and priceless garbage that was probably inside, and have dad let him know it was him. He was disgustingly sober, not at all calm or relaxed in that way drugs made him out to be, and he wanted to wreak carnage in a way that left, not one, but TWO expensive vases broken.

 

Unfortunately though, Klaus had promised Ben to not do any property damage. He couldn’t break any vases or wreak any carnage. He couldn’t act on any sort of weird revenge that his mind was offering up. The best thing he could do was silently break in with his brother and revel in the one-sided knowledge of disobedience.

 

“Klaus?”

 

Klaus hears Ben say his name, promptly breaking him from his thought process. With a hum lilted as a question, he turned to look at his brother to see eyes laced with concern.

 

“We don’t have to do this place if you don’t want to.” Ben continues, “We could always check out other streets, too. Or, ya know, we could go home.”

 

“Uuuh, yeah, no, we are not going home. We’re going to break into this damn church, which  _ you _ suggested, and who am I to say no to my brother’s first choice in crime?”

 

Ben rolled his eyes at Klaus again. When he looked at him though, Klaus could see Ben examining him, trying to see if he was truly alright.

 

Klaus gave his brother a grin, and tugged him across the street to the back of the church.

 

When they got back there, they noticed a fire escape up on the side that lead up from the second store all the way up to the roof, just like Ben side. Klaus, being the tallest of the duo, was the one who pushed Ben up to grab onto the ladder rung, where he then proceeded to lend his hand down to Klaus, who jumped up and took it. The two then made their up the escape, smiles etched on their faces, until they reached the rooftop.

 

When the boys had planted their feet on solid ground, they made their way over to the front of the roof, where they both sat down at atop the small ledge.

 

The view was, to say the least, astounding. Being up nine stories high, Klaus could see the entirety of the park down below as well as the next few streets over. The sky now had traces of orange and purple on its horizon, from the lights of the city. There weren’t any people out, but a few cars drove by on far off roads, their noises reaching Klaus’s ears a few seconds later each time.

 

This was better than sitting in the park, Klaus had to admit. He was a little bit surprised that Ben actually conceded to breaking and entering someplace with him, but now that he thinks about it…

 

“Hey.” He speaks up, nudging Ben with an elbow. When the teen turned to look at him, Klaus went on.

 

“This isn’t actually breaking and entering.”

 

“Hm…it is a little bit. We’re not exactly supposed to be up here.”

 

“But there wasn’t actually any breaking or entering into any place.”

 

“Which, I said no to breaking stuff anyway. I like this way more than being on a stranger’s couch, or on some store’s surveillance.”

 

“But being on someone else’s couch is fun! You are, absolutely, the worst criminal I know about!”

 

“I’d like to think that as a compliment.”

 

Klaus dramatically scoffed and made a face. Ben’s chuckle rung throughout the silent night, and it wasn’t long before Klaus’s own grin returned.

 

He’s missed this. He really has.

 

The two sat there talking again for a bit, as Klaus started to kick his feet in the air. It was much like their walk to the park, talking about anything that interested the both of them. It was mainly Klaus talking, once again, but neither of them minded. It was serene up on the rooftop. It was peaceful. It was nice.

 

Not a lot of things were nice without drugs nowadays.

 

“Hey, Klaus.” Ben suddenly says, tone shifting from playful to calm and earnest.

 

“Yeah?” Klaus asks.

 

“If you don’t mind me asking…” His brother begins, looking between the road and him, “What...why, exactly, did you start doing drugs?”

 

Ah. Yeah, Klaus was not expecting. Tonight was just full of surprises, wasn’t it?

 

Klaus didn’t know how to respond for a moment, stuck between waving away Ben’s inquiry and giving the truth, but in a very lighthearted, vague manner. Looking at his brother, it was obvious that the other teen didn’t want anything less than the latter.

 

Klaus giggles to himself.

 

Ben gives him time to formulate a proper response, and Klaus looks away, staring at the other buildings below as he put his head in his hands, elbows resting on his knees.

 

“Drugs…give me peace.” He begins.

 

Ben doesn’t say anything, but his expression tells Klaus to continue.

 

“They make everything...disappear. Not just the mental problems that we all have after living in that shitty academy, but…” Klaus goes silent, hoping for Ben to fill in the gaps. When he once again didn’t say anything, Klaus sighs and finally looks at his brother.

 

“You’d do them, too, if you saw corpses follow you everywhere, every day.”

 

Realization zapped through Ben’s face, but before he could say anything Klaus continued on. “Everything’s finally quiet when I take them. I’m alone, and nobody’s screaming at me to help. Not anyone who isn’t alive, anyway. I have control, and it’s...utter  _ bliss.” _

 

After he’s done, Ben just stares at him. He does so for a few seconds.

 

“Are they that bad?” He asks, gaze not leaving Klaus.

 

Klaus chuckles again at that. “Oh, they are  _ the _ worst. They constantly scream, and talk, and scream some more. Sometimes they look so fucked up it’s hard to tell if they were ever human.”

 

When Ben remained quiet again, Klaus begins to whisper, “I feel their blood drip on me when I try to sleep. I can feel them clawing at me, trying to make me one of them. They hate me. They want me dead because I’m alive. And I can’t help it.”

 

Klaus feels Ben scoot closer to him, and a hand landed on his shoulder. He looks at it for a second, before gazing back at his sibling.

 

“I’m sorry. I should’ve known why you started doing these things.” Ben says, his voice low and comforting.

 

“No, it’s fine. You’re not the only one who didn’t notice.” Klaus responds.

 

A few seconds pass for Ben says, “Can I make one last promise?”

 

Klaus tilts his head before snorting, “This better be the last one. Any more and I might shove you off the rooftop.”

 

“This is the last one, I promise. Wait, no!”

 

When Klaus starts to laugh loudly, Ben joins in with him, their chortles resonating through the open air. It was only after they started to settle down that Ben spoke again.

 

“I meant…” He breathes in, his smile stretching across his face, “I meant that I promise, from now on, I’m gonna be a better brother.”

 

Klaus’s smile falters at those words, but he manages to hold it upright. “Yeah?” He says, pulling his legs up to his chest.

 

“Yeah. I wasn’t there for you. Not when you needed it most.” Ben begins, “I...selfishly thought that you just didn’t have control, when in actuality it was… you seeking the opposite, I guess. I never understood, and never bothered to try. I’m sorry. I really wanna make up for it.”

 

Klaus could feel his emotions beginning to stir, already feeling his eyes start to prickle with the possibility of tears.  _ God damn it _ .

 

“I care about you, Klaus. I apologize that it never seemed that way.”

 

Klaus could feel his throat constricting as he stared at the caring look that his brother sent him. A look that he hasn’t seen directed towards him, aside from Mom, for a long, long time. It was making Klaus’s heart shatter, even when he tried to pick up the pieces.

 

“Y-yeah..” Klaus could only repeat, feeling the words get stuck in his throat. He had to clear it before he dared to try to talk again. “I’ll…”

 

Ben just stared at him patiently, and quite honestly, that fucked Klaus up, too.

 

“I’ll hold you to that promise.” He manages to finish, before adding on, “I promise, too.”

 

Ben grinned widely at that, and before his brother knew it Klaus was pulling him into a side hug.

 

This night turned out to be absolutely weird, but in the end it turned out alright, Klaus thinks.

 

Suddenly, a cacophony of noise hit Klaus’s ears, causing him to gasp and break the embrace.

 

The noise was hellish, and a minute hardly passed before Klaus felt a headache stab through the entirety of his brain. The teen tried to put his hands over his ears, but the noises didn’t subside, almost like they were entirely inside his head. One glance at his brother, and Klaus could see  that Ben was unaffected by the sounds, worry dancing across his face.

 

It was after that that Klaus realized what the noise was. A feeling of terror spread through him, and he was pretty sure that it appeared on his face, because Ben was now grabbing at his arm and asking him something. Klaus couldn’t hear him though, the screams completely overtaking his senses.

 

Klaus could hear all of the ghosts, but he couldn’t see them. In fact, he hasn’t seen a single ghost since he left the academy, despite his sobriety. Did Klaus just ignore the ghosts and didn’t notice them? Why were there so fucking many  _ now _ ?!

 

Klaus tried his best to drown out the noise, but nothing was working. All he could hear, all his brain was, were the words  _ you killed me, murderer, how could you, take me back, I miss them, monster, you killed me, you killed me, he KILLED ME-- _

 

Klaus felt someone shaking him, and it took him a second to realize that Ben has grabbed onto both of his shoulders. He opened up his eyes to squint at his brother in pain, and though he saw Ben’s lips moving he still couldn’t understand a single thing. When did he close his eyes? When did it get so hard to breathe? Oh fuck, it was hard to breathe.

 

There were so many. So many people were screaming all at once, as if a hoard of a hundred corpses had surrounded Klaus. No, scratch that, a fucking  _ thousand  _ corpses. It was unbearable. It was painful. Klaus’s head felt like it was going to explode, and the screams were only getting closer. Where did they come from? Klaus hasn’t heard this many ghosts in his life, not even during his special training.

 

Klaus could barely focus on what was happening in reality, but whatever awareness he had left allowed him see that Ben was standing up and trying to get Klaus to walk. Surprising Klaus, he was able to stand up, though his shaking legs were evident to the immense agony he was currently in.

 

He could feel Ben making him lean on him, and he could feel it when Ben started to guide him back to the church’s fire escape. 

 

They didn’t get far. Klaus could feel Ben suddenly stop, and when he opened his eyes again he saw the most strangest thing. Well, it wasn’t all that strange, since Klaus suddenly knew where the ghosts had come from.

 

A man was standing a few feet away from the two boys, and a fuckload of mutilated ghosts were encircling him. Klaus couldn’t count how many there were, but it was enough that a few were even phasing into each other.

 

The man had apparently walked through the rooftop door that was on the other side of Klaus and Ben. He was tall, white, had a slicked back hairdo, and held a briefcase in one hand.

 

Ben was staring at this guy with confusion, though his posture was poised into a defensive stance. Klaus couldn’t do much, aside from look between the man and the plethora of ghosts in horror.

Klaus didn’t know much about what happened next. All he knew was that everyone was still for a good few seconds, probably examining each other to see who was a threat, or maybe the guy and Ben were talking. Then, the next thing he did know, all hell broke loose and it went by quickly.

One second, the guy set down his suitcase, pulled out a handgun from his suit, and took aim.

 

Two seconds, both boys realized that he was aiming at Ben. Klaus’s only thought was diving away.

 

Three and four seconds, two shots were fired, one right after the other.

 

Five seconds, Klaus was moving on pure instinct, shoving Ben in the opposite direction.

 

Six and seven seconds, two bullets found their way into his chest, their force swaying him backwards.

 

Eight seconds, he tumbled over the small railing of the church’s rooftop.

 

Nine, ten, eleven seconds, he was descending. The ghosts were still screaming.

Klaus never felt the hard ground. Everything went black by twelve seconds. He never heard the anguished scream of his brother, nor did he hear the reloading of the man’s gun. The last thing he did feel was dreadful pain, as his mind went blank.


	2. It's 5 A.M.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh!! I'm sorry everyone! This chapter is MONTHS late for many, many reasons.
> 
> I won't go into them, but to put it simply I got invested in other shows/media, lost my muse, and suddenly had to deal with some real life troubles. You can find out more on my twitter, which I have renamed to @Skoopedy (my tumblr has also been changed to the same name, but I'm hardly ever active on there).
> 
> Also, this chapter is waaay shorter than I originally planned, but as time went on I realized that everything I had planned was too long for one chapter (chapter 1 doesn't count, it set the stage!!) and I wanted to get it done as soon as I could.
> 
> I have renamed the chapter titles to where they are the lyrics to the song I previously mentioned! And, this chapter is dialogue heavy. Not much happens outside of the conversation, so I hope y'all are okay with that!
> 
> Thank you for reading! Your support means a lot to me!

Klaus felt…

Klaus felt weirdly fine.

There was a dull ache all over his body, especially in his chest area, but it was more of a faint tingle rather than an incessant hurt. His limbs felt kind of sluggish, too. He couldn’t remember the reason as to why, though.

There was light poking at his closed eyes, and he grunted. Klaus immediately knew he wasn’t on his bed back at the academy. The ground beneath him was too hard, and from what his hands felt, it was also super dusty and scratchy. It felt like...grass?

Opening his eyes, Klaus looked up at the sky.

A particularly very gray, clear sky.

It wasn’t much to say that Klaus was immediately confused. Forcing his limbs to move and ignoring the protests of his body, he sat himself up, only to see that the rest of the environment was the same light gray tone. Actually, even more peculiar, he was in the middle of a field, surrounded by tall grass and even taller trees.

The teen tried to stand up fully, but when he looked down at his hands he noticed that they were also a gray-ish color. Examining his body the best he could, Klaus realized that he was completely monochrome, very much like the world he was in. The outfit he wore did not change much, considering it was already black and grey, but his skin was fully diluted. Looking at his chest, Klaus noticed that his striped shirt was particularly bloody in two separate areas, although it was hard to tell if it was blood or just splotchy dirt at first due to the lack of determining colors. That was weird. This whole thing was weird.

Where was he?

“I really thought you couldn’t have been more stupid than you already were.”

A young voice spoke up from out of nowhere, and it makes Klaus jolt in surprise. Turning around, he sees what looks to be a little kid, wearing a large white sun hat and a matching sundress. Though they were only as tall as Klaus’s belly, the pissed off look in their eyes was enough to even make the teenage boy raise up his hands in surrender.

“But here you are…” They continue, taking a step forward. “Dead, because you couldn’t use whatever braincells you didn’t kill already to even _try_ to think.”

Klaus just blinked at the insult. Who in the hell was this kid?

“Umm…” Klaus tried to say, but before he could ask anything they were already speaking up again.

“You, Klaus Hargreeves, are the single most idiotic person that I have ever had the displeasure of meeting, and that’s really bad, considering that I’ve met a great many of utterly stupid humans for nigh an eternity. You have managed to ruin everything, much like how you always do. What were you trying to do? Were you trying to die? Were you hoping for a good night out by throwing yourself at death like a bitch in heat? Did you up and decide to thoroughly piss me off, just because you could?! Because it FUCKING WORKED!” The tiny human yelled, absolutely fuming.

Holy shit, this actual baby was ripping into him like a serial killer. What in the diddly-darn fuck did Klaus do now?!

“Woaaah, okay, settle down!” Klaus coaxes, his hands moving up and down, “I don't know what’s going on if you just yell at me!”

They breathe in, which surprises Klaus that they even listened to him. After several seconds, the kid, who was still angry as all hell, glared at him.

“So...what happened? You said I died?” Klaus asked, ignoring the hatred that emanated from the child before him.

“Yes. You died, Klaus Hargeeves.” They respond, scowl unfazed. “For good.”

“Oh, thank fuck.” Was Klaus’s immediate answer.

He waited a second before he asked anything again, pointing a finger at them, “So, are you god, or something? I’m kinda agnostic, so…”

“Hm. Maybe.”

Klaus was taken aback by that. “What?” He responds, “Wait, how can you not be sure you’re god?”

“It all depends on what you mean by it.” They grimace.

“Oh, sorry for the confusion. Of course there’s more than one way to be god.” Klaus states, semi-sarcastically, “What I mean is, aren’t you, like...the creator of everything?”

“Yes.”

“So, you _are_ god? Or, at least some other kind of deity?”

“By that definition. However, I’m not the benevolent entity that you humans like to praise so much. The only thing I did was create the tools necessary to start the process of life.” The child explains.

“Ahh.”

“I’ll be honest though, I don’t really like you all too much.” They swiftly change.

Klaus shrugs and softly laughs. “Yeah, me neither.”

“Under normal circumstances, I would’ve been able to send you back to your body, thus healing it so it can continue to sustain your soul. Unfortunately, you have managed to destroy it beyond normal resuscitation. There’s not much else I can do.”

“That’s fine. I don’t mind being a bit dead.” Klaus perks up. “Spares me from the fucking nightmare that was everything. Oh my god, that means no more missions! No more being told I’m a failure and a waste of space! Yay!”

God didn’t look as amused as he did.

“See? Tis no detriment to me.” He finishes, finally stretching his aching body.

“But it is a detriment to _me_. Not to mention everybody else.” god explains. “You had a purpose, Hargreeves. You were meant to help me pick and choose. But not only that, you were meant for something far greater than what you could have imagined. Though, I don’t really care too much about the latter. It doesn’t concern the place you have within my own goals, and I couldn’t care less about the realm down below.”

“Ew. Do you know who you sound like right about now?” Klaus grimaced. His mind focused on those last words for a bit. _“The realm down below”_. So, his assumption was right - this must be Heaven. At least he has confirmation of that now.

“If it’s your adoptive father, then no, I do not sound like him. I’m just simply stating what used to be your purpose.”

“Yeah, but I listened to the whole spiel about what is and what isn’t my purpose for eighteen whole years. That’s about eighteen years too long, don’tcha think?”

“Well, too bad for you. You might not be alive anymore, but that doesn’t mean you can now sit by and idly watch things. Your path has just simply changed.”

“But what if I do wanna sit by and idly watch things? What’s left for me to even do?” Klaus crosses his arms, confusion etching across his face, “Even you, God themself, can’t revive me and fix things. Which, how come you can’t do that? I thought you were supposed to be all powerful!”

“For many reasons, Hargreeves.” God snarled out, “For one, I’m not much for interference. I’d rather keep my distance than get my hands dirty anymore. Second, I have limits when it comes to controlling and aiding humans. The subject of free will is a tough one for me.”

“Okay. That explains a bit, I think.” Klaus nods, “But I still don’t get what you expect from me. I don’t think I could’ve been much help to begin with, but I’m not really…” He gestures to his body, “ _Solid_ anymore. I just wanna lay back peacefully and enjoy my freedom, which are the two things I’ve lacked for, I’d saaay, a majority of my life.”

Klaus could see God slightly shake their head at his words, but he couldn’t quite care.

“You have no choice in the matter. You’ve thoroughly gone and messed up what has been supposedly set in stone, and I won’t allow you to sit back and avoid the consequences. Klaus Hargreeves, you may be a ghost, but I won’t let your presence go to waste.”

“Wooow...such big words for someone who said they didn’t care about us mortals.” Klaus teased, smirking.

“I don’t.” God stated, hands now poised at their hips, “You’re just an unfortunate, yet important hindrance.”

Klaus stood for a moment before nodding in a vague form of acceptance. “That’s fair.” He responds.

So, Klaus was dead. That’s not something that he was really surprised about. Yeah, not being able to do drugs anymore sucked humongous loads of ass, and he wasn’t going to be able to listen to his music ever again, but those were consequences of death that Klaus had expected. It didn’t mean that it all did not bother him, but it wasn’t going to pull at Klaus’s consciousness more than necessary.

Being surrounded by death his whole life had kind of left Klaus feeling no certain way about it in the end. Whatever ended up being the other side, he would accept with open arms and fall back into blissful nothingness, forever. Why worry about what comes after when you had a whole life ahead of you?

Speaking about his death, Klaus was having a hard time grasping how he got here in the first place.

“You must be wondering about how you got here in the first place.” _Holy motherfucking shit!_  When god ended up speaking Klaus’s thoughts out loud, the teen made an unnerved face and stepped back a little.

“Don’t look at me like that. I might not be as powerful as you hoped, but I’m still practically all-knowing.” God amends as they stared back at Klaus with unreserved irritation.

“Creepy, and duly noted.”

“Anyways,” god continued, “You don’t remember much about your death, but that’s to be expected at first. Most spirits end up remembering their deaths in due time, either very quickly or years later, but some never quite realize what happened to them. But you need to remember, right now.

“Think deeply, Klaus. What did you have for breakfast this morning? Where did you go after that? What time do you specifically recall, and who was there with you right then? What were your _thoughts_?”

Klaus felt intrigued by the lord’s multiple questions. Who would’ve thought that his afterlife would be spent being interrogated by a cute, tiny brat deity who could just as easily break him down into his basic atom components? It makes him crack a smile.

“Well, let’s see,” Klaus thinks back, looking around as he put a finger to his chin in thought, “I don’t remember too much, now. I was pretty distracted for most of the morning, I’m pretty sure. Or is that just the foggy haze of death?”

God didn’t bother responding, leaving Klaus to speak his thoughts out loud to himself. He didn’t mind.

“Okay, no, I’m at least ninety-five percent positive that I was distracted this morning. No...eighty percent...no, let’s make it eighty-five. I don't particularly recall what we had, but knowing dear dad’s rules, it was oatmeal. Eugh.” Klaus makes a face of disgust at bringing up the bland, sloppy breakfast meal.

“Anyway, I’m pretty sure that we did some training. Can’t go a day without breaking our backs so that way we can hold society’s burdens. That’s our motto, did you know? _“If you have a spare minute, then that’s sixty seconds being wasted in what could be used for something better.”_ We had that ingrained into our baby brains as soon as we plopped right out of the womb and into Reggie’s hands!”

“Focus, Klaus. You’re losing track.” god finally piped back up, unamused with Klaus’s antics.

“You’re right, you’re right. So...oatmeal. Then, training. I’m pretty sure I didn’t do good, cause I’m me. I can’t throw a punch like the others. But I can run! It’s why I’m lookout, which I’m perfectly fine with. Don’t get to do much, and can chat it up with the hostages. Most of them aren’t usually down to talk, though. I wonder why?” He cackles.

“Klaus!” God says more forcefully, gray eyes scrunched with annoyance once more.

“Okay, okay! Geez, learn to have a little fun, be more social. Anyways, nothing eventful happened during the day. Usual protocol and all that shit. But something did happen at night, otherwise I would still be kicking it. Hmm…”

Klaus continues to ponder. There’s a tingle starting to wrack his mind, and now that he’s focusing on it it’s starting to bug the teen. It’s as if that fog was starting to lift, or some other metaphorical fuckery.

One a.m. started to poke out in Klaus’s thoughts, and the more it did the more he felt a familiar itch course through his veins. That drive to get another hit, another dosage of drugs, so intense that it always caused him to leave the mansion without fail. He must’ve left at around one last night.

Okay, so he had a time…

They mentioned something about who was there? Whoever it was didn’t stop him from leaving, because otherwise...Klaus was at least ninety percent sure that he would be alive if they succeeded in keeping him inside.

Who in the fuck would be up so late in the mansion, aside from him? Only two options popped up in his head.

Only one made sense.

“Oh shit!” Klaus yells, as memories started to rush back through his head. “Oh _shit_!” He repeats, throwing his hands in the air wildly as his body jerks back towards where god stood, “I fucking _died_!”

“Yeah...you kinda did.” god states sarcastically.

“No, no, no, I mean…” Klaus puts his head in his heads and slaps his temples, “I fell off a building! But, wait, I was shot too, by some fucking rando! He attacked me and Ben!”

Klaus’s eyes burst wide open and he let out a strained curse at the mention of his brother.

“Fuck, _Ben_! Aw, jesus christ!” Klaus felt a flood of worry overcome his more eccentric emotions, and it causes him to take a deep breath and put his hands on his knees, the exertion of his dramatic movements knocking out some of his air.

Quiet befell the two as Klaus rummaged through his memories and feelings. It usually would have made the teen uncomfortable, if it wasn’t for the fact that he was preoccupied with a string of strong emotions, lots of which he had kept repressed for years.

A bit later, the deity before him spoke up once more. “Good job at recovering your memories. That at least puts you slightly above the average specter.”

“Thanks, I try.” Klaus huffs out as he stands up and puts his hands over his mouth.

“Now that things have been settled, I believe I can send you back to Earth. You have business to attend to.”

“Yeah? What kind of business? Ya gonna throw me back into the fray and make me become some kind of reverse ghostbuster?” Klaus asks cheekily.

“Yes, to put it childishly.”

“Ooohhh, goodie!” Klaus claps his hands before they settle back on his chest. “Some more bullshit to attend to. You’re immediately ten times better than dad!”

God simply scowled for what was possibly the umpteenth time. “Go, before you somehow do the impossible again and make me even madder. You have a family to check up on.” They demand.

“Wait - wait, what?” Klaus raised an eyebrow. He knew he had Ben to worry about, but in his honest opinion the others could, to put it frankly, go fuck themselves!

“We’ll meet again later, Hargreeves.”

“Wait! No, you lied to me, I thought I was gonna go on some cool ass spooky adventures!”

God simply turned away from the frowning teenager as Klaus stomped his foot in an immature fit. He continued to bicker and even tried to follow after her, but before he could make even a few steps the scenery around him changed in the blink of an eye.

Klaus felt himself stumble back a bit. The suddenness of it caught him off balance, but luckily he didn’t trip over the edge of the sidewalk that his feet were dangerously close to. He didn’t even have to look around him much to know where he was when he got his bearings.

A whine escaped his lips as his shoulders slumped and he looked up at the humongous household before him.

The bitch above had thrown Klaus Hargreeves right back to the dreaded mansion instead of his place of death.

“I TAKE BACK WHAT I SAID!” Klaus yelled up at the sky. “YOU’RE WORSE THAN REGINALD! YOU’RE WORSE THAN THE DEVIL! FUUUCK YOOOUU!”

Glancing at the gate that leads to the door once more, Klaus grimaced heavily. Hey, at least he no longer had to worry about getting wrinkles. Gotta think about the positives.

He walked in place muttering to himself for a few minutes, cursing this situation and the god that refused to let his soul rest in peace. Why did he deserve this...he at least thought he had a reason why life was a total shitstain thanks to the presence of his dad, but no! It seems like the universe simply liked to fuck around with Klaus in what is some sort of sick eternal joke.

  
Gathering whatever will he had left, Klaus thought one last _“fuck it”_ before he reached towards the gate - only to phase through it - and walked up towards the door of his childhood home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have yet to start chapter three, but since this chapter is out now I hope I won't take as long to finish it;; I have so much planned for this story, but since I have a tendency to lose motivation/get distracted, all chapters from now on will be short.
> 
> Once again, thank you for reading! If you wanna talk or support me, hit me up on my socials!
> 
> Edit (03/14/20): I am going to be reworking chapter one and by association chapter two. Chapter three is being made, but now that I have had time to come back to this story with a fresh mindset and inspiration, I'll be using it to revamp the already published chapters first. Planning for this story is nearly complete, but my muse for TUA has been in and out very sparingly. Due to this, I've been able to reflect a whole lot more, and I've decided that I am not satisfied with what has been established. This may bring about a drastic character change in Ben and story revision to how Klaus dies, to be more in character with what I see fit for their current age and experiences. Thank you for reading and for being so patient. I am a writer who needs a lot of time to get work done. But I promise you, as we get closer to nearing this fic's first year anniversary, I still have ideas and love for this story, and wish for it to be told. Sometime soon I hope to get chapter three done, as I am publishing these right after I finish them and my beta reader gives me the go ahead. I have very big plans for this story, especially now that Season 2 is coming out relatively soon, and my love for TUA has been nudging its way back into my brain steadily! So, maybe... Just Maybe... I'll be delivering more content a bit more steadily...


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